This invention is in the field of labels, and more particularly is a special purpose label arrangement set for use in PC postage that can be used with envelopes bearing facing identification marks, and a method for printing this special purpose label arrangement with the necessary information.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has responded to recent technological developments in the telecommunication and computer field by developing its Information Based Indicia Program (IBIP.) The IBIP involves the development of new technology to produce new forms of postage. In so-called PC Postage, a user can purchase postage credit, and print the postage in the form of PC Postage onto a label or directly onto the mail piece. The PC Postage includes a human readable portion and a 2-dimensional barcode portion. The human readable portion includes the postage value, mail class, the date, the meter number, optionally a logo, and optionally also the destination zip code (required for business courtesy mail pieces.) The barcode portion is intended to help thwart fraud, and includes information about the mail piece including the destination ZIP code, the amount of postage applied, the date and time the postage was applied, and a digital signature so that the USPS can validate the authenticity of the postage.
In one preferred embodiment of PC Postage, a user will subscribe to a third party central server location, such as Stamps.com (of Santa Monica, Calif.), and by using postage software made available by the central server location, postage value can be downloaded to the user""s computer. The user can then print the postage indicia, by an ordinary laser or ink jet printer, directly onto the mail piece itself (onto a standard business envelope), or onto a label to be applied to the mail piece. This postage software works in conjunction with other software programs, such as word processing, accounting, database, and contact management software to allow a user to conveniently print out PC Postage at the same time that addressee and bar code information is printed (and also the sender""s return address.)
In order to permit the sophisticated mail handling and optical reading equipment at the USPS to properly interpret the PC Postage and addressee information, it is critical that the postage indicia be applied properly. Indeed, the USPS has established strict guidelines directed to the margins, label sizes, and placement of the Postage Indicia, and the size, placement, and other characteristics of the POSTNET (POStal Numeric Encoding Technique) bar codes, and any facing identification mark (FIM) on mail pieces. These guidelines are contained in the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) and Title 39, Code of Federal Register (CFR), Part 111, and UPSP Publication No. 25 xe2x80x9cDesigning Letter Mailxe2x80x9d.
The various typically available laser and ink jet printers differ in their ability to print close to the edge of sheets of self-adhesive labels fed into the printer, and typically cannot print closer than 0.635 cm (0.25 inch) of each edge of the sheet, although depending on the printer, it can be as much as 1.27 cm (0.5 inch) of each edge of the sheet. In their most common embodiment, these home, office and small laser and ink jet printers are designed to accept sheets having a maximum width of 21.59 cm (8.5 inches), or in the case of wide format printers, about 27.94 cm (11 inches.) However, the majority of the home and office printers are of the 21.59 cm (8.5 inches) variety, and accordingly most self-adhesive labels sheets have a width of 21.59 cm (8.5 inches) or less. To accommodate a variety of printers (and their different print-free margin requirements), most self-adhesive labels are provided on sheets that have relatively wide margins. Unfortunately, formatting self-adhesive labels with overly wide margins reduces the footprint available for the labels and therefore reduces the number and/or size labels that can be provided per sheet.
E-Stamp.com""s Internet Postage starter kit includes samples of self-adhesive labels from Avery(copyright) identified as Postage and Address Labels #2869 and #2866, and labels for template #2859. These label sheets include the words xe2x80x9cPatent Pendingxe2x80x9d. The #2866 labels consist of single enlarged labels with fluorescent strips on the top and right side edges. The #2866 label design is stated as being large enough to print postage and addresses on labels for packages. The #2859 and #2869 labels consist of two labels per set, with fluorescent strips on the top and right side edges of the upper and larger label in each of the two labels per set. The larger upper label in these sets is for the postage indicia, and the smaller label is for the addressee. There is no provision for printing of the sender""s address along with the postage indicia label and addressee label. As noted above, the postage indicia includes such information as the destination ZIP code.
A facing identification mark (FIM) is a pattern of vertical bars printed in the upper right area of a mail piece, to the left of the indicia space for a stamp, metering or PC postage. A FIM pattern is essentially a nine-bit code consisting of bars and no-bar place holders (in which the bars corresponding to a binary 1 and no bars correspond to a binary 0.) FIM patterns serves two major purposes. They allow letter that do not contain luminescent stamps of meter imprints (such as business reply mail and official government mail) to be faced (oriented) and canceled (postmarked) by USPS machinery. FIM patterns also permit business reply mail and courtesy reply mail to be separated from other letters and cards for direct processing by optical character readers (OCRs) or barcode sorters (BCSs). This helps in achieving faster processing times.
There are presently four different FIM markings. FIM A is used for courtesy reply mail. FIM B is used for business reply mail, penalty mail, or franked mail without a POSTNET barcode. FIM C is used for business reply mail, penalty mail, or franked mail with a POSTNET barcode. In addition, FIM D is typically used for IBIP mailings, except that a FIM A is required when the FIM is preprinted onto a business courtesy envelope. Notwithstanding which particular FIM pattern is applied, under USPS regulations, there are strict regulations concerning the size and placement of the FIM pattern.
The FIM pattern must be printed in a FIM clear zone, in which no other printing must appear. The FIM clear zone is a rectangular sized zone extending from downwardly 0.625 inches from the upper edge of the mail piece and is located between 3 inches and 1.750 inches from the right side edge. The FIM bars must be 0.625 inchxc2x10.125 inch high and 0.03125 inchxc2x10.008 inch wide. The rightmost bar of the FIM must be 2 inchesxc2x10.125 inch from the right edge of the mail piece. The tops of the FIM bars must be no lower than 0.125 inch from the top of mail piece and the bottoms of the FIM bars should touch the bottom edge of the FIM clear zone but must not be more than 0.125 inch above or below that edge.
In view of the presence of FIM patterns on business courtesy mail pieces, which can comprise a relatively large percentage of PC postage users"" mailing needs, it would be very useful to have a PC postage label that is designed for use with mail pieces with FIM patterns.
It would be highly useful to have a special purpose Label arrangement that has a label portion for the postage indicia, an addressee label portion, and a sender label portion, so that during the printing of postage indicia onto a self-adhesive label, additional labels for the addressee and sender can also be simultaneously printed by the user, as a set, thereby eliminating the need to print sender labels in a separate step. Furthermore, since some users include additional unique identifying information along with mail pieces, (such as account numbers), which can be placed in the vicinity of the sender""s address on the mail piece, it would be beneficial to print all three labels in a single step.
It would also be highly beneficial to have a special purpose label arrangement designed for use with mail pieces that may or may not have a FIM pattern, and that as a minimum has a label portion for the postage indicia, and preferably also an addressee label portion and a sender label portion, so that only a single style of sheets of self-adhesive labels will serve a user""s needs during the printing of postage indicia on any mail piece.
It would be convenient to provide a method to permit printing of a special purpose label arrangement that has a label portion for the postage indicia, an addressee label portion, and a sender label portion in a single step, and alternately a special purpose label arrangement that has a label portion for the postage indicia designed for all types of mail pieces, including mail pieces with FIM patterns and preferably also a sender label portion and an addressee label portion.